Nashville will vote on wine-in-grocery stores in November

The cities of Hendersonville and Gallatin have garnered enough signatures to get the sale of wine in grocery stores on their November ballots. Nashville voters will also get a chance to have their say on the issue in November.(Photo: HELEN COMER/ FILE / GANNETT TENNESSEE)

Nashville voters in November will get to decide if their grocery stores can stock wine, according to officials with the Davidson County Election Commission.

At least 15,647 Nashville voters needed to sign a petition to get the question on the November ballot. The election commission announced Thursday that supporters had cleared that bar.

"That was the last area we were sitting on pins and needles about," said Melissa Eads, a spokeswoman for Kroger, which had petition stations at several of its local stores.

Polls have shown widespread support for letting grocery stores sell wine. The General Assembly cleared the way for the possibility in legislation passed this spring.

Starting in 2016, grocery stores can sell wine in cities and counties that allow bars or liquor stores, but only if local voters support the change.

Several Tennessee communities, including Goodlettsville, Franklin, Brentwood, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Ashland City, Pleasant View and Clarksville have approved referendums and will take up the question this fall.

To get a citywide vote, supporters needed signatures from 10 percent of the number of registered voters who cast ballots in the last gubernatorial election.

County election officials said they were still reviewing signatures submitted in La Vergne, Portland and Millersville to see whether there were enough sent to force a vote in November. Officials in Rutherford and Sumner counties said those reviews should be finished by Friday.